


Hope After Sorrow

by MagpieinRoseThorns



Series: The Everlasting Chronicles [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Animal Death, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Fantasy, Natural Disasters, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:55:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23442823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieinRoseThorns/pseuds/MagpieinRoseThorns
Summary: Hope and Destruction walk through a ruined city as Death plays in the rubble.
Series: The Everlasting Chronicles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686463
Kudos: 1





	Hope After Sorrow

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of background of the family tree: Death is the daughter of Hope and Fate. Destruction is the sister to Hope and aunt to Death.

Earthquakes do what every disaster has done since civilization began. They destroy. They take. They kill. This one had been no different. Nature has always been Disaster's favourite tool. It has been, is, and always will be, the cruellest of all killers. Without mercy. Without compassion. Blind to race, age, religion, or gender. They all fall to her. In her eyes, death is an equality awarded to everyone, and all knew how she loved to play.

Hope's white gown billowed around her frame in the harsh wind, untouched by the filth that covered the ground she stood upon. Her bare feet feeling the cold of the street, scattered with debris. Walking over to the steps of a now-abandoned home, she tried to reimagine what it might have looked like and who might have lived there. Where they might be now..?

She looked up from the rubble looking to where her daughter played, balancing on beams that had once held up walls and looking with curiosity at the few humans who remained scattered throughout the wreckage, sobbing at the injustice of life.

The child went around with a prance that was somewhere between a skip and a waltz, hopping over bricks and boards in order to reach those who had been trapped for far too long now; offering them her sweet and innocent kiss to ease their pain.

Destruction called to the child, picking her small frame up into her arms. They were a lovely picture, perfectly suited for the set of a funeral, were it not for their grins, with the dark suit and long black dress. She held her close, as she spoke to her in hushed whispers, stretching out her hand to point to where her 'best' work had been done.

Bridges collapsing with cars still trapped. Buildings reaching the clouds one moment, now lying in flattened pieces around it's foundation. Entire families, crushed in their sleep within mere moments. She spoke with pride, throwing her hand out over her newly conquered kingdom dramatically making the child giggle at her aunt's theatrics.

Meanwhile, Hope stood back, watching a young girl, no older than her own daughter in appearance, cry over the lifeless body of her mother. A rose blooming upon her chest, seeping through the white nightgown. She knelt beside the child, arms curling around her and whispering words with the promise of a new day.

Destruction set Death down, allowing her to once again roam about her new favourite playground, handing out more kisses to those in need, and Destruction turned her gaze back to Hope. Straightening her tie, she walked swiftly to her side, barely pausing at any rubble in her path. “Sister, dearest,” she cooed sweetly, the wind whistling through the ruin as she grinned.

She turned to her slowly, golden curls twisting round her face as she did, undisturbed by the wind. Hope walked forward to meet her before they began their stroll down the lane, ever mindful of her child's presence.

“Isn't she beautiful?” Destruction praised, watching as Death kicked over a pile of bricks, her pale feet now stained with dirt, soot, and blood.

Hope looked around the ruin absentmindedly, “Is she reason for all of this?”

Destruction chucked slightly with a shrug, “She was bored... and you know how I love to spoil her.”

She shook her head, breathing out an inkling of light towards a family that picked through rubble to recover their belongings. “You do too much,” she said simply. “You frighten them too much.”

“Who will live? Who will die? Who will lend their aid? And who will simply turn away?” She was mocking. Testing the boundary of human relation and strength, challenging them to survive against the odds.

Hope shook her head, looking down at her before turning her attention back to Death's darting form, chasing a small frightened cat through barely standing archways and over fallen staircases. “You confuse me...”

Destruction laughed, a deep throaty noise that caused the ground beneath them to quiver slightly in aftershock. Death chirped as an archway she had run through collapsed behind her before her sounds stopped altogether. She paused, staring at the pile of rubble before reaching down and moving a few bricks aside.

After a moment, she pulled out the limp, twitching form of the cat she had chased, cradling it in her thin arms before giving it a kiss on the head. When the animal went still, she set it down on the ground gently before hopping off to find something else to do, the feline completely forgotten.

Destruction turned to Hope, tilting her head to the side with a smile, “There are many things you... will never even begin to comprehend, my dear. That's what makes you,  _ you _ .”

Hope sighed slightly looking over the carnage that had been caused, unable to comprehend the joy her sister had felt in causing it. Unable to truly understand how her daughter could walk among the chaos and remain untouched by its horror.

She didn't understand because she couldn't. It wasn't who she was. It wasn't her job **.**


End file.
